Styling C: Wednesday, 08.25.10

The Look: Summer Fun

The Outift: Target green headband, Carter's striped romper
 

Root Beer Float Cookies

I was so intrigued by this cookie. I love root beer and root beer floats. I actually feel extra special when I get a root beer float. I don't know what I expected of this cookie, but I expected the root beer flavor to be more pronounced. It was an incredibly delicious cookie it just taste more like brown sugar sugar cookie than a root beer cookie. 

 

Root Beer Float Cookies
Source: Tasty Kitchen by tallgrasskitchen (here)
Make approximately 36 cookies

16 ounces, fluid Favorite Root Beer
12 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (divided Use)
1-¾ cup Dark Brown Sugar
½ teaspoons Salt
2 whole Eggs
3 cups Flour
½ teaspoons Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
1 cup Powdered Sugar (For Icing)

In a saucepan, pour in 16 ounces of your favorite root beer. (I use Sprecher’s). Bring to a boil on medium-high heat, and reduce to about 1/2 cup. This can take 15-20 minutes.

Melt 10 Tablespoons of butter in medium saucepan – cook 3-5 minutes on medium until golden brown. Keep swirling so it doesn’t burn. Remove from heat, stir in additional 2 Tablespoons of butter.

Stir in brown sugar, salt, and 4 Tablespoons of your root beer concentrate. Let cool, then beat in 2 eggs.

In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add sugar mixture to flour mixture, and mix until just combined.

The dough should be soft, but not runny (if it’s runny, add a bit more flour). Chill for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough into balls (the size of smallish golfballs), and place on sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Cookies are much better under than over-baked.

 Root Beer Icing

1 cup sifted powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons of your root beer concentrate (if you don’t have enough, splash in a little unconcentrated root beer)

Beat until smooth, drizzle over cookies.

{Mollie} Project Empowering Motherhood

Today we hear from Mollie, the beautiful mommy behind Bloom Photography and As For Me and My House. Not only does she take the most beautiful photographs (proof: this wedding, this engagement session, this newborn session, this maternity session, and this smash the cake session), but she is also one of the sweetest and most loving mommy bloggers. The love for her daughters is so palpable, you can almost touch it. Her personal blog is full of the cutest pictures, videos, and stories of her daughters, so I definitely recommend heading over there NOW. If I can't persuade you, then just take a look at these recent pictures of her beautiful daughters Lily and Eve and her nieces and let them persuade you.

Here are Mollie's answers:

1. One ugly truth about motherhood. Motherhood is a mirror. You can't hide from it and you see yourself exactly as you are- close up, the good the bad and the ugly. As a mother of an older toddler, I hear myself in her. I see myself in her. And I don't always like it. I want her to be a better person than I am and I am her role model every day of the week and gosh that can be a scary thought. I have never been so proud of myself and yet simultaneously realized more things I want to change deep down in side.

2. What does motherhood mean to you? Motherhood means family to me. It means my wonderful husband and I becoming more than a couple and committing to more than we ever imagined. To my girls, motherhood is comfort, strength, direction, love, food, knowledge. Motherhood is their way of life, and I am responsible for that.

3. How has motherhood empowered you? Motherhood has made me even more confident in my belief that I draw my strength and wisdom from God. I could not do this alone and I wouldn't want to attempt it. I was given these girls for a reason and just as much as it was intended for them to be my babies, I was intended to be their mom. There is such empowerment in knowing we were knit together for a purpose!

Thank you Mollie for sharing your passions with us. You are an amazing photographer and an incredible mother.

PS I plan on stealing these ice cream party, silhouette, and maternity pictures ideas! 

Project Empowering Motherhood is an ongoing series in celebration and honor of Cati's 6 months. For my responses to the questions and more about the series, go HERE. To read Jenn, Melisa, Esther, Andrea, Jenny and Jen's answers, go HERE. If you are interested in participating and being featured on the blog send your answers to the three questions to steppystar@aol.com.

Avocado: Fruit or Veggie?

We're breezing through the veggies here and Cati has reacted so well to what I've given her that I feel confident about moving on to new foods every 3 days. I was in between starting avocado or squash today but I really wanted avocado with my lunch so we went ahead with that. I like to eat my avocado with a bit of salt and lime juice so I found her avocado bland (breast milk actually made it taste blander to me). At first Cati didn't seem to know what to make of avocado. She must have asked herself the age old question: Is it a fruit or a vegetable? She warmed up to it toward the end of the meal, but I still think carrots has been her favorite thing thus far. We'll be rounding out the rest of the month with squash, sweet potato, apple, banana, and then pear. 

Avocado Purée Recipe
Makes 1/2 cup purée

1 cup diced avocado (about 1/2 large avocado)
Breast milk, formula, or water (optional)

Place in avocado in a food processor and purée. Add fluid until avocado reaches the best consistency for eating.

Storage: Good for 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Note: Since this was Cati's 1st avocado meal, I added about 1 oz of breast milk to make the purée a consistency I felt she'd be able to eat. I look forward to just mashing up the avocado with a fork when she's older.

The players

The avocado was really smooth on its own 

but I added a little breast milk to make it even smoother.

Our respective servings.

Styling C: Tuesday, 08.24.10 {Voting Bonus}

Cati woke up this morning and begged me not to change her out of her PJs. She said today was a staying-home-in-cozy-comfort kind of day. I don't blame her. If I'm staying in PJs all day, she should do the same thing, right? Except, girl had a carrot explosion in her diaper and decided she wanted to change into another set of PJs. Maybe she really just wanted to look good for her first time at the polls.

The Looks: Rainy Day Comfort

The Outfit, Part 1: First Impressions polka dot onesie and pink "I love mommy" pants
 

Love the bum!

The Outfit, Part 2: Carter's heart onesie and green pants

This is her "I'm underage and I voted!" face.

Quick Review: Berries

I'm normally a breakfast purist and order pancakes with eggs (sunny side up, of course!), home fries, and a big ol' slab of ham. Recently, however, my carnivorous side got the better of me and I ordered steak, eggs, and home fries for breakfast at Berries in the Grove restaurant.  I have never done this and, the truth is, I didn't even know if I could handle this type of meal. I can eat two big, fluffy pancakes, two buttery eggs, crunchy home fries, and crispy ham with no problem. But a slab of steak AND eggs AND home fries? For breakfast? Am I crazy? The answer is yes, I could eat it. In fact, I complained that my steak was too small. The steak was beyond tender and I love how a good piece of steak needs nothing more than salt and pepper. The eggs were just how I like them: crispy edges and free flowing yolk. The home fries lacked the crunch I'm used to because I think these were baked instead of cooked in a skillet. They were still good and perfectly seasoned.

Berries in the Grove is located at 2884 SW 27th Avenue in Coconut Grove.

{Heather} Project Empowering Motherhood

Today we hear from Heather, half of the brainpower behind the ultra crafty and inspirational blog Lucky Star Lane. What I really like about Lucky Star Lane is how inclusive the site is; not only do you get to swoon over Heather and Erin's crafty projects but you also get to see the crafty projects undertaken by their readers in their Lucky Linky series. And if you really can't get enough of them, check out their Etsy store and buy yourself a bit of their creativity. Seriously though, how beautiful is this:

Flower Pin Boutique Package

Here are Heather's answers:

1. One ugly truth about motherhood. To me, motherhood has been a mirror. It has shown me really cool things about me that I never knew, that I am strong, capable and generous beyond what is probably good for me. But, it has also shown me my weaknesses, that I need more patience, that I'm not forgiving enough and that I am judgemental.

2. What does motherhood mean to you? Motherhood has been a process of raising my son and raising myself. It's funny to me now that I thought I was so grown up, so mature. I have so much to learn and I love that I get to learn it with my son ;)

3. How has motherhood empowered you? Motherhood has been a greatly empowering experience for me. It was wonderful to know during pregnancy that I could grow a baby, but to nourish him and watch him grow from my milk was amazing. I love watching him catch on to something I taught him, to flourish under an environment that I've been essential to creating. I always knew I wanted to be a mother, but I never realized how much I was missing out before he was here.

Thank you Heather for sharing your love of crafting with us and infecting us with the crafty bug! Your creativity amazes me and I'm soo jealous of how much your son is going to benefit from having such a creative and talented mommy.

Project Empowering Motherhood is an ongoing series in celebration and honor of Cati's 6 months. For my responses to the questions and more about the series, go HERE. To read Jenn and Melisa's answers, go HERE. If you are interested in participating and being featured on the blog send your answers to the three questions to steppystar@aol.com. 

Styling C: Monday, 08.23.10

Cati has learned how to blow tongue raspberries. How is it possible that the child learns how to do this the same week she starts colored solids? Peas and carrots have ended up everywhere because of her blowing. She loves to do this all the time. I love how she becomes obsessed with a new skill when she first learns it; I just wish I didn't get showered in baby spit (at least it smells good, right?).

The Look: Summer Beauty

The Outfit: Gymboree headband, First Impressions pink floral dress

You see? Cati's tongue raspberry face:

{Jen} Project: Empowering Motherhood

Today we hear from my friend Jen. I've known Jen for a long time but it wasn't until we started planning our weddings that we really became close. Then Jen got pregnant and so did I. Jen's daughter Emma is 2.5 months older than Cati so, as you can imagine, I bombard Jen with questions about life with a new baby. It's great to talk to Jen about motherhood because everything is still fresh in her mind.

Here are Jen's answers:

1. One ugly truth about motherhood. It's permanence and the fact that there's no going back. It's such an immense commitment and you don't know what you've gotten yourself into until your baby is born, and at that point it's way too late to change your mind. You are stuck with this immense life decision that you never got the chance to "test drive" or practice with to decide if it's really what you wanted or not. No matter what, nothing prepares you for having a child except having a child. It's such a huge risk because you never really know what it's going to be like until it's done. I feel lucky in that I love being a mom and I've really enjoyed 95% of all the aspects of motherhood so far, but sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hated it? The second big ugly truth is that you're in it alone. Of course a lot of us are blessed with amazing support systems that make our lives ten times easier, including our husbands who do share a lot of the job of raising this child. But I feel like, at the end of the day, the buck stops with us. We ultimately are responsible for making the decisions and for taking care of the baby, and there's really no one who shares the burden with us to the same extent we bare it ourselves, and there's really no one we can turn to to answer our questions or make our decisions for us. No matter how good their advice is, no one can step in our shoes and take over, and no one has ever raised our particular child or under our particular circumstances. There's no owner's manual. We're on our own when it comes to the core of raising our child and that's a huge responsibility and sometimes it can feel very lonely to have to do that all by ourselves.

2. What does motherhood mean to you? It means the honor and the privilege of being the biggest source of warmth, love, and comfort in another human being's life. It's such a universal truth of motherhood that it's become a cliche (in a cartoon when the character is in danger or frightened, they say "I want my mommy!"). Even as an adult now, and ESPECIALLY since I've become a mom myself, I've had many "I want my mommy!" moments. It takes my breath away to think that when my child is scared or lonely or in need of comfort, the place where she'll want to go to hide from the world and feel loved and protected is in my arms. My heart swells with pride to think that just by letting her bury her head in my neck and showering her with hugs and kisses and stroking her head or her back, I can make her feel better and make whatever problems she's facing seem more manageable. I love that that factor of our relationship will always be there, even as her problems evolve from scraped knees to broken hearts to the scary, terrifying issues that come along with being a real grown up. I hope she relishes in receiving that love and comfort just as much as I know I will relish in giving it out.

3. How has motherhood empowered you? Motherhood makes me feel competent and capable. One of the best gifts my parents gave me was to raise me with a lot of self-confidence, and that has carried over into my role as a mom. Of course there have been millions of times that I've questioned my decisions or not been sure as to the right course of action to take in a particular set of circumstances. But overall, I can honestly say that I've never questioned my ability to be a good mom. Seeing my daughter grow from a helpless newborn to an active, intelligent, thriving baby has given me such a boost of self-confidence. She is too wonderful for me not to be doing something right. Again, we are lucky to have a lot of other important players in Emma's life that help out a LOT, and I know for sure that their love for her and the way they care for her has a lot to do with how well she's developing. But just as I ultimately know that so much of the responsibility of raising her lies with me, I'd also like to think that I deserve a lot of the credit for how well she's turning out. Motherhood is empowering because it's a huge job and you know you're doing it well by seeing your child right in front of your eyes. If you have a happy, healthy baby, it's tangible proof of a job well done. Of course even the best babies belonging to the best moms are NOT always happy and NOT always healthy, and that's when your confidence is shaken. But those moments of self-doubt only help to reinforce how good it feels when things DO fall into place and your baby shows you that you are doing a great job just by being their amazing selves.

Thanks Jen for not only helping me get through my tough times with motherhood in the beginning but also for being a positive mothering role model.

Project Empowering Motherhood is an ongoing series in celebration and honor of Cati's 6 months. For my responses to the questions and more about the series, go HERE. To read Jenn, Melisa, Esther, Andrea, and Jenny's answers, go HERE. If you are interested in participating and being featured on the blog send your answers to the three questions to steppystar@aol.com.

Homemade Bailey's Irish Cream

I am so excited about this recipe. I have never made anything like this before and I was so thrilled when my homemade version actually tasted like the store bought stuff. The original recipe calls for Irish whiskey but all I had was Canadian (Crown Royal). I don't know much about whiskey so I can't tell you if using Irish whiskey would have made this recipe taste more authentic. What I can tell you is that this stuff was beyond awesome. It was sweet with just enough alcohol. I don't like whiskey on its own, but I loved it in this recipe.

Homemade Baileys Irish Cream Recipe
Source: Cupcake Project (here)

1 cup heavy cream
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 2/3 cup whiskey
1 tsp instant coffee
2 Tbsp Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds.

Bottle in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. Shake before using.

Will keep for up to 2 months.